Different Destiny
by TheLadyIchigo
Summary: AU Harry Potter: In a different world where Harry's BF is the mysterious girl Morgan, events take on a new turn. Destiny is changed, fate takes a back seat, and the most absurd revelations occur... WIP
1. Chapter 1

AN - This is an AU Harry Potter fic I've been working on for a while. The follow starts in Book 5 (which is where I started writing). These is (currently) no books 1-4 for this, so I will give a basic premise below. Beware there are OCs and FCs aplenty!

When Harry visits DA, he runs into a girl in the owl shop buying a raven and later on in a bookstore. On the platform later on, she is the one he sees and asks how to get though the barrier (not the Weasleys). He winds up sitting with her and conversing. Her name is Morgan, and she lives with an adopted family (she has no idea of her true parents). During the talking, she mentions she will likely be a Slytherin due to her heritage of "dark magic" (which her adopted parents hinted at). Morgan's only possession from her real family is a small green stone bracelet she always wears. In Hogwarts, Harry sees that every table has good looking and mean looking people and, when given the choice, follows Morgan into Slytherin. Ron becomes his enemy. Harry's trio becomes himself, Morgan, and Draco. The rest of 1st year follows the cannon books with these 3 as the unlikely heroes and Snape more tolerable of Harry.

In year two, Morgan is the one entranced by the diary but fails to notice as she spends all her free time combing books, hoping to find her family. Eventually Harry rescues Morgan from the diary and basilisk, but notices later in the Hospital Ward that Morgan seems…off…

Years three & four follow the cannon books with these 3 in the center again.

Year five is about where this picks up. The beginning of year 5 follows the cannon books, minus the DA. Towards the end, Harry is lured to the Ministry by his vision, only Morgan accompanies. The two retrieve the prophecy but are ambushed. Morgan is rendered unconscious. In order to keep the Death Eaters from discovering her, Harry allows himself to be caught after smashing the prophecy. He is tied up and so it begins.

Different Destiny.

**Chapter X**

**Showdown in the Office**

XXXXX

Only one thought dominated Harry's mind: I have to get back to Morgan. Despite his initial thoughts, the bonds that were tying him to the post really weren't that tight. If he wiggled in the right way, he could slip them off. He was confused as to why a full fledged wizard had physically tied him to the post instead of using magic, but shrugged the thought off. All he needed was for the death eater watching him to walk just a little further away and he could escape from the room and run to Morgan.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to have left her just lying in that office, but she had been injured and, at the time, Harry hadn't wanted to risk injuring her any further; he had no desire to ever hear Morgan scream like that again... But now there were Death Eaters everywhere and Harry needed to get to Morgan before one of them found her and did who knows what or before Voldemort arrived to 'execute' him.

Carefully and as quietly as he could, Harry wiggled his hands out of the tie holding them but kept his hands behind the post to make it appear as if they were still tied. A moment later someone called out and the guard walked out the door. Realizing this might be his only chance to get away, Harry quickly sprang to his feet and headed for the other door quietly. He checked the hallway for Death Eaters before running across.

He knew he would be discovered missing soon and they still had his wand, his and Morgan's. He doubted the Death Eaters had left any of their wands lying around and any other weapon would be useless against magic. His only hope was to get to Morgan and get as close to an exit as he could before they all started chasing him then, at least, maybe Morgan could escape. Silently Harry berated himself for his instance on coming; it was all his fault. He had insisted on coming and poor Morgan had been dragged into the mess he'd basically created and was now hurt because of it. Even though Morgan had volunteered to accompany him, he still felt guilty: it was his vision afterall.

When Harry could no longer see the lights from the Death Eaters wands, he abandoned his stealth and ran full out towards the office he'd left Morgan in. As he rounded the corner, he heard one of them behind him shout that he'd escape. Harry cursed to himself; he'd been hoping for a little more time. Now he really had to rush in order for his plan to work.

But now the office wasn't that far away. Harry sprinted down a hallway and took a sharp turn. His feet slid on something causing Harry to impact a wall and he looked down at his knees to see what he'd slipped in. His knees were red and nearby there was a pool of blood, but no body. Harry wondered if it was an unfortunate employee who'd been attacked and carted off by the Death Eaters or a recovered Death Eater. Putting the issue aside, Harry quickly got to his feet and dashed to the door just ahead.

He opened it quickly and all but ran inside. He was careful not to let the door slam shut as he closed it; no need to attract any nearby Death Eaters to his position. Carefully he made his way through the darkened office to behind the couch where Morgan still laid. He wanted to light a candle or two to be able to see a little, but Harry knew it would draw the Death Eaters to them like moths to a flame, no pun intended. Turning his attention to Morgan, he gently shook her to try and rouse her.

"Morgan. Morgan. Come on, Morgan. You need to wake up; we've got to go no!" Harry muttered in her ear.

But Morgan didn't wake, didn't even make a sound. For a brief moment, Harry worried that she had died in his absence and quickly lifted her wrist to check for a pulse. A moment later, he gently returned her arm to the floor, a relieved sigh escaping him. Harry stood up, and then bent down to grab Morgan's shoulders. He would just have to try and carry her out; there was no other way.

But suddenly there was a chill in the air and Harry dropped Morgan's shoulders as pain flooded through his scar. Harry grimaced and held a hand to it, hoping to lessen the pain. He knew it meant that Voldemort was now here, somewhere in the Ministry, and most likely not pleased at all

'Hopefully far away.' Harry thought as he reached for Morgan again.

But the pain intensified greatly, forcing Harry to his knees. A soft chuckle reached Harry's ears and he sucked in a breath really quickly.

"Actually, I'm right here, Harry Potter."

Harry froze, more in shock than in fear, as the couch in front of him vanished into thin air. All of the candles in the room suddenly lit at once with eerie green flames. Before him stood Voldemort in all of his dark glory. The bone white yew wand was held loftily in one hand and a grin, an evil grin of pure delight, was plastered upon the dark wizard's face.

Oh crap.

"Well, well ,well...look what I've found: one Harry Potter and his unfortunate girlfriend." Voldemort said, twirling his wand in his hand slightly as he spoke.

Harry gritted his teeth, more out of his unwillingness to show pain to the dark wizard than out of anger. "Voldemort."

Voldemort's grin just seemed to widen. "What to do, what to do?" he mused aloud. "You broke my prophecy, Harry Potter. Now what should I do to you? What punishment shall suffice? What of yours shall I break?"

The dark wizard's voice had gained a dangerous edge to it and Harry knew he was all but helpless. He stole a quick glance at Morgan. It had been Morgan whom had told him that if push came to shove, it was better to break the Prophecy than to let Voldemort have it. Harry had agreed with her, he still did. He knew that even if he did still have that prophecy on him now and did give it to Voldemort in exchancge for his and Morgan's freedom, that Voldemort would break his word in an instant. It would be the same situation. Let Voldemort punish him; at least he had foiled the wizard's plans and prevented him from obtaining the Prophecy he wanted so badly. The ultimate victory had gone to Harry.

But then Voldemort was laughing, chucking loudly, and Harry couldn't help but feel a sense of dread overcome him. Voldemort had apparently made up his mind on what horrors to inflict while Harry had been lost in thoughts. There was a tingling sensation in his body and Harry found, to his horror, that he could no longer move. All he could do was shift his eyes and talk a bit. Voldemort had a wicked grin on his face and he pointed the wand at the immobile Harry. Harry shut his eyes, waiting for what would surely be pain. He heard a slight mutter from Voldemort, a spell of some sort, but felt nothing. Harry opened his eyes slowly and nearly choked in horror.

Morgan's unconscious form was floating in mid-air in front of Voldemort.

Voldemort's grin was as wide as it could be and Harry's heart plummeted with the realization of just what the dark wizard intended to do. Voldemort was going to torture Morgan in order to punish Harry or to get him to speak and there was nothing Harry could do.

"NO!" he yelled, feeling useless. "NO!"

Voldemort pointedly ignored him and threw a Cruciatus Curse at the unconscious Morgan. She didn't wake but her body shook violently in midair; Harry was sure that if Morgan was conscious she would be screaming her lungs out. Harry tired to free himself from the spell that Voldemort was using to hold him in place, but couldn't.

"Stop! Stop it!" he screamed.

Voldemort lifted his wand and the curse stopped. Morgan's body still shook for several moments afterwards before stilling once more.

"Tell me the Prophecy, Harry Potter." Voldemort demanded.

Harry gritted his teeth. "I don't know the Prophecy, I don't know it!"

Voldemort scoffed. "Perhaps you should reconsider your answer" he told Harry, obviously not believing Harry's answer. He raised his wand again and hit Morgan's body once again with the Cruciatus Curse.

"Stop it!" Harry screamed, fighting as beast as he could to break free and help Morgan. He knew from class the previous year that a person, even unconcious, who was under the curse for too long would begin to have dasterdly side effects. With a great amount of effort he somehow managed to free his arm. He fought to raise it up and reach for Morgan.

Voldemort lifted the curse, seemingly surprised that Harry had broken part of his binding spell. The grin on his face turned to a snarl and he tossed another Cruciatus Curse, this time at Harry.

Pain greater that that he had experienced the years before flooded Harry's body and he was throw backwards into the wall by the shear force of the spell; Voldemort's obvious hate was making the spell stronger. His breath was knocked forcefully from him and Harry landed on the floor face down with a painful groan.

It took Harry several moments to regain his breath and it was only once his breathing had returned to normal that Harry realized he could once again move. Carefully, he pushed himself onto his knees and looked up. Morgan was still floating in midair where she'd been. She didn't appear to have been physically hurt any more than she already was, as far as Harry could tell at least. Voldemort on the other hand was moving towards him and Harry thought for a moment that the Dark Lord might try to attack him bodily, but Voldemort stopped a few feet from where Harry was kneeling and waved his wand, causing something to float off of the floor and into his palm. Voldemort's wand returned to point at Harry but his red eyes were concentrated on the object in his other hand.

Harry slowly rose to his feet and leaned forward slightly. It was Morgan's bracelet in the Dark Lord's hand. Harry surmised that it must have flown off his wrist, where Morgan had placed it earlier for safekeeping, when Voldemort's spell had flung him across the room and into the wall.

"That's not yours!" Harry stated as he staggered to his feet. He knew very well how important that bracelet was to Morgan and he wasn't about to just let Voldemort walk away with it without making some effort to retrieve it. "Give it back."

Voldemort raised his gaze and narrowed his eyes at Harry. "It certainly isn't yours either!" The Dark Lord snapped at him.

Harry was carefully inching his way along the perimeter of the room towards Morgan, giving Voldemort a wide berth. He wondered how Voldemort had known that it wasn't his, but brushed the thought aside. "I was given it for safekeeping." He simply said.

Voldemort's red eyes were now glued to Harry. "By whom?" Voldemort questioned, his voice beginning to take on that dangerous tone from earlier.

Harry blinked. Why was Voldemort so interested in the owner of a piece of jewelry? He looked at Voldemort strangely and then answered "Like I'd tell you that either."

Finally he had managed to get next to Morgan. He grabbed her gently and pulled as hard as he could, trying to free her from Voldemort's levitation spell. Voldemort had returned his attention back to the bracelet in his hand and was muttering some spells at it. He seemed to be ignoring Harry's attempts to free Morgan at the moment but Harry knew that Voldemort had added a few more questions about the bracelet to the mental list of his most likely entitled 'Answers to get out of Harry Potter by any means necessary'. Harry redoubled his attempts to free Morgan; he'd face Voldemort again when he needed to. He was actually quite shocked that Voldemort had diveretd his attention from him, but looking at the situation a little more closely, he supposed it wasn't so shocking. Afterall he had no wand, knew no wandless magic, had no way to leave the builiding other than the front door, and Morgan, his friend, was still being held hostage: Voldermort obviously knew Harry wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

It took quite a few pulls to finally break the spell around Morgan. Harry landed on his butt with an "oof" and a lap full of Morgan. Harry carefully shifted her down onto the moaned softly upon contact with the cold floor and her green eyes fluttered open to look up at Harry. Harry breathed a sigh of relief but noticed that her green eyes seemed dis-focused.

"Harry...?" Morgan's voice sounded very weak.

Harry sighed softly; at least she was awake now. "We're not out of the woods yet, Morgan."

Morgan nodded softly and tried to sit up, but quickly failed. Harry had to rush to catch Morgan's head with his hands before it bashed into the floor. Morgan groaned softly and managed to reach up with one hand to grab Harry's wrist. The hand moved down a little and then stopped. Morgan's eyes raised to meet Harry's with an intense look; Harry knew what was coming.

"Harry" Morgan began, her tone bordering on angry, "what happened to the bracelet you were wearing?"

Harry gulped; he could feel Voldemort's gaze on him now. He didn't need to turn around to know that Voldemort was most likely staring at them now despite the fact that Morgan was speaking softly. He tried to shush Morgan, who had no idea that the darkest wizard in over a century was watching them, but Morgan would have none of it.

"Did you lose it?" Morgan asked. It may have just been Harry's imagination, but Morgan's voice didn't seem to be as strong as it was moments ago.

"Yes and no." Harry told her, hoping she'd leave it at that.

But Morgan wasn't taking that answer either. "What does **that** mean?" Harry was sure that, under different circumstances, Morgan would be giving him her most intense glare.

Harry sighed. "Yes, I lost but 'no' in the sense that I know where, well, **who** has it."

"Oh..." Morgan managed.

Morgan's eyes, though, were no longer glaring at Harry. Instead they were wide and staring straight up. Harry looked up and wasn't too surprised to see Voldemort looming over the two of them. He ignored the dark wizard for a moment and turned back to Morgan, only to discover she was unconscious again.

In the distance Harry could hear someone shouting, but he couldn't understand what they were saying nor did he really care at the moment. Harry turned his head back up to the Dark Wizard above him, intending on giving Voldemort a piece of his mind but he was met with a flash of gray light from the end of Voldemort's wand and everything just went black...


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter X**

**Within The Snake's Den**

Harry awoke to a stiffness in his arms and legs. Groaning, he groped around in the usual spot where he kept his glasses while he was asleep. When he didn't find them or the table he expected, Harry sat up. He spotted a blurry brown shape that looked like and table and quickly located his glasses on it. Putting them on, Harry took in his unfamiliar surroundings; he definitely wasn't in his dorm. The events at the ministry came back to him and Harry stood up.

He had been lying in a rather large silk bed with blood red sheets and black coverlet. He was still in his tattered and dirty clothes. Harry was more than surprised that he wasn't in a dungeon cell at this very moment and even more shocked to see that Morgan had been laid down on a nearby couch and covered with a black blanket. Harry scrambled over to her to find her no more injured than she was when he was last awake.

He tried to awaken Morgan but to no avail. Morgan remained unconscious and Harry suspected a spell was keeping her that way. Reluctantly, Harry left Morgan lying there as he walked around the room, looking for a way out. The sole window in the room was made of some kind of magically enhanced glass - the window had no latches, locks, or panels. Harry seriously doubted it would break even if he rammed it with a chair leg, but he tried anyway. The glass didn't even scratch and Harry set the chair down. He looked around the room and saw there were five doors spaced around the room. Determined, Harry headed for the closest one which was right next to another door.

The first was a large walk-in closet filled with robes, mostly black or green. Harry examined a few and and had no doubt that the owner was Voldemort. The closet had no other exit and Harry was sure that wrecking Voldemort's clothing would only make the man angrier. He looked in the closet for a few moments more, seeing if there was anything in his size so that he could get out of his torn clothing (it really hampered his movement when he was trying to go quickly), but everything was in Voldemort's size. He exited and closed the door before trying the second one. This too was a walk-in closet, but the robes present were in a wide variety of colors and all were covered with a large layer of dust. Harry noted that they were woman's robes and wondered if they belonged to Bellatrix, but upon considering the crazy woman's taste of clothing (black, black, and, oh yeah, black) and the dust present, Harry determined that the owner of the robes most likely wasn't present anymore. He momentarily found himself wondering 'Dead or Azkaban?' and then who the mystery owner could be before he remembered he was supposed to be looking for an exit. Harry left the closet.

The next door along the wall led into a huge bathroom. Harry's jaw dropped at the sheer size of it. It was at least twice the size of the prefect's bathroom back at Hogwarts and complete with a large foot tub, a larger sunken tub, a closed-in shower that looked as if it could hold at least 5 people, a vanity framed with a large elegant silver-framed mirror, a toilet, a large pedistal sink with another silver framed mirror above, and a...jacuzzi? Harry examined the jacuzzi with disbelief; maybe this was how Voldemort relaxed when there was no one to torture?

The bathroom had no other exit and no window so Harry headed back into the room to try the next door. Harry opened the next door down and was greeted with a slight breeze as he stepped out onto a rather large balcony. Harry quickly dashed to the rail; if they weren't too high up then maybe he could escape this way with Morgan via a rope. Harry's plans were quickly dashed when he looked over the railing and saw that they were extremely high up, well above the treetops, at least sixty or so feet. There was a large forest down below and some mountains loomed in the distance but nothing was distinct or familiar to Harry. Harry took a deep breath of the fresh air before heading back inside, an escape route still on his mind.

The next door led to a thin corridor. Harry passed down the small hallway for a little bit before the corridor split in two and ended with two doors: one green and one black. Harry paused for a moment then went and opened the black door on the left. He found himself in another bedroom, a slightly smaller one. The walls were black as well as most of the items in the room. The only furniture in the room other than a bed were bookshelves that reached up to the ceiling, all crammed with books. Harry looked at a few and saw that most were on vampires or dark arts and almost all of them looked to be in terrible shape. Once again, the room's sole window was un-openable; the two doors on the other side of the room led to a smaller bathroom (with a tub, sink, and toilet) and a smaller walk-in closet (filled with capes and black robes). All of the parts of the room were covered in a large layer of dust, much like the earlier walk-in closet Harry had seen. Harry exited the dark room and headed back into the corridor, this time trying the green door on the right.

He entered another bedroom, this one is tones of green and obviously belonging to a girl, given the lace. Harry marveled at all of the intricate detail work in the room. The walls had silver running along the ceiling, complete with snakes and flowers. Sheer green silk created a canopy over the bed which was adorned in embroidered sheets and pillows. The sole window had sheer green curtains. There was a bookcase filled with books on a variety of spell topics, each looking extremely well cared for. A vanity sat with two books on top and a larger silver-framed mirror. There was also a desk, complete with an elegant lamp and chair and a similarly styled dresser. Harry walked past the desk to check the window and stopped: there was a glass case upon the desk and inside of that case was a wand! Harry lifted the glass case up, placed it aside, and grabbed the wand, only to retract his hand seconds later in pain. Harry saw that large welts now covered his hand that shot rivets of pain up his arm when he tried to touch them. His hand throbbed with intermitten pain as hr put the glass case back over the wand and felt that he should have known better than to just try and grab it - Voldemort was nothing if not paranoid.

Like the previous room, the window was un-openable and the two other doors led to a bathroom (which was much more girly an elegant than the last) and a walk-in closet (which was stuffed beyond capacity with robes and dresses). All of this was covered in the same large layer of dust. Harry tried to calm the throbbing in his hand with some cool water in the bathroom, but the water seemed to have no effect whatsoever on his welts. A quick look in the small cabinet there proved to turn up nothing except a half empty bottle of a white substance, which Harry wasn't stupid enough to try on his hand.

Frustrated with not being able to find an escape route, Harry returned to the first room. Morgan was still lying unconscious on the couch where he had left her and the room seemed unchanged from his last visit. Harry laid down on the bed with a sigh - he might as well take a nap so that later on he would have more energy. Harry rolled over onto his side and immediately sat up. There was another door where the hadn't been one previously. At least, Harry was sure it hadn't been then before. He walked over and opened it with a push.

Harry entered into a large office. Candles in silver sconces lit the room with a flickering light. One whole wall of the room was just bookcases, packed with books, most of which bore empty spines. Ontop of the wall of bookcases, a few silver items rested and Harry thought he might have recognized a few similar to those he had seen in Dumbledore's office. A couch and two silver chairs lined the other wall. Below his feet, there was a plush green carpet. There was also an ebony desk situated in front of a large trio of windows, which was piled high with parchment that must have been held in place by magic, and a few books. The office screamed luxary, in a dark and sophisticated way. Harry hardly noticed - the figure behind the desk had captured his attention.

It was Voldemort, but it wasn't. Harry had been expecting the Voldemort he had just encountered in the ministry hours (or was it days) ago - tall, pale, and snake-like. He wasn't expecting to see Voldemort looking just like the Tom Riddle he had met in the Chamber three years ago, but that was who was sitting there. There were a few sparse strands of silver in the immaculate kept black hair but otherwise Voldemort was a carbon-copy of his younger self, perhaps only a few years older that the diary version. Voldemort was currently engrossed in writing something on some bone white parchment, a raven quill scratching across it in what Harry was sure would be the same immaculate and curvy writing that had appeared in the diary. The dark wizard raised his head up momentarily to look at Harry before returning to the parchment in front of him. Harry repressed a shudder - Voldemort's eyes were still crimson and dangerous looking.

"Did you enjoy your self-guided tour, Harry Potter?" Voldemort asked him, the humor evident in his tone as he finished the last few words on the document, setting the quill aside.

So he knew. 'Of course he knows!' Harry told himself. 'It's his house!'. Harry didn't respond to Voldemort's question - instead he looked at the desk more closely. He spotted Morgan's bracelet suspended magically in mid air over a silver plate. Harry considered dashing forward and grabbing the bracelet back but the throbbing pain in his hand warned him that Voldemort had probably put a similar protection spell over the bracelet. Harry settled for staring stonily at Voldemort.

And of course Voldemort noticed Harry's eyes lingering on the suspended bracelet. The grin vanished from his face.

"Ready to talk yet, Harry?" Voldemort began, rising from his seat and slowly walking around his desk. "Certainly even you must realize the current situation you find yourself in. You are a prisoner in my manor, unable to leave this floor nevertheless esacpe here entirely. Your wands, both your own and you dear girlfriend's, are in my posession and you are unable to reclaim them, less you wish to try and fail to gain nothing more than welts. You are unskilled and untrained in any wandless magic or alternative magical arts unlike myself. Quite simply put, you are helpless and at my mercy...your little girlfriend too." Voldemort's tone was cocky and boastful, which the dark wizard probably had every right to be, given the situation. Still the tone irked Harry.

Voldemort stopped before Harry. Despite having the appearance of his younger self, Voldemort had retained his hight and was over a full head taller. Harry could feel the dark and powerful aura surrounding the older wizard; Voldemort wasn't the Dark Lord because he was voted, his sheer power had earned him the title. Voldemort lifted Harry's chin up with a single finger and forced Harry's green eyes to meet his crimson; Harry tired not to wince at the pain that flooded his scar from the contact.

"Now Harry, are you going to cooperate or do I have to make things...difficult." Harry didn't miss the way Voldemort's eyes momentarily traveled to the door he had come through at the word 'difficult' and he knew very well what Voldemort would do. "The bracelet. Whose is it?"

Harry's mind spun. Who knows why Voldemort wanted to know? If he just told him outright, Voldemort might attack or kill Morgan or him. The only reason he and Morgan were probably alive was because Voldemort wanted to know - telling him would surely forfit their lives. On the other hand, refusing to tell would result in a repat of what had happened back at the ministry. Harry knew Voldemort would make good on his threat and Morgan would have to pay the price. He didn't know what to do. Both choices were equally as bad. Suddenly, Harry was struck with a brilliant idea. Although it wasn't a fool-proof idea, it was his best option at the moment. Harry just hoped it would go the way he wanted.

"I really don't know much." Harry began slowly and carefully, trying to avoid looking into Voldermort's eyes; Voldemort was a master at Legitmency after all. "Morgan's really the one who knows all about that - I was just holding it for her since she tends to lose things easily. You really have to ask her."

Harry mentally appluaded himself. Now if everything went according to plan and Voldemort really wanted that information, he would have to partially heal Morgan. Escaping would be easier with Morgan conscious. Either that or Voldemort would just use Legitamency on him...

Voldemort reguarded Harry for a moment and Harry could tell Voldemort was mulling over this information he'd been given. For a moment, Harry thought his plan had failed and that Voldemort woud continue to interrogate him but then his chin was suddenly relased as Voldemort swept from the office into the other room without a word. Harry followed and arrived to the sight of Voldemort passing his wand over Morgan's unconcious form, muttering indistinguishable spells under his breath. Harry inched closer. After a few minutes of this, Voldemort stopped and glanced over at Harry.

"What happened to her?" was the off-handed question.

Harry blinked, momentarily stunned that Voldemort would ask what he viewed as a stupid question. "How should I know? It was YOUR Death Eaters who attacked her and then YOU who cursed her!" Harry bit his tongue before he could add 'Shouldn't you know that, greatest dark lord ever?' - he was sure if he had uttered it that Voldemort would have sent a nasty curse his way.

Voldemort appeared to only be half-listening to Harry as he offered no response and instead rolled Morgan over to view her back. Her hair was moved aside to expose a scar on her neck.

"This is older than that." Voldemort commented.

"You did that too!" Harry scoffed. "Well, your psycho diary did when it posessed her."

Voldemort seemed to almost frown at this and he placed the tip of the wand over the spot. Some more spells were murmered and when Voldemort withdrew the wand several moment later, Harry could see that the scar had faded drastically but not totally disapeared. Voldemort rolled Morgan back over and began to quickly heal the superficial bruises and scrapes without a word, obviously checking to see if there was any other damage underneath. At one point, Voldemort vanished Morgan's clothes, leaving her in her undergarments, as he continued to mend the injuries. Harry found himself blushing. When Voldemort went to banish her undergarments, Harry vehemently objected. Voldemort scoffed, but in the end left them on muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "kids".

Sensing this was going to take a while, Harry took a seat as Voldemort summoned the quill from his desk and a parchment sheet which floated in mid air nearby. As Voldemort muttered spells, the quill wrote by itself. An hour passed before Voldemort finally stopped and took a step back from Morgan's body, a contemplative look on his face as he snatched the parchment from mid-air. A quick wave of his wand reclothed Morgan in her torn garments before covering her prone form with the blanket. Harry rose and walked back over; Morgan was still unconcious.

Seeing Harry's dissapointed look, Voldemort sneered. "I have removed the damage done by the various curses from the Death Eaters as well as the lingering aftereffects of the Crucicatus Curse. Besides that, a variety of spell damaged ranging from about a year to six years old has been healed and removed. I've also removed the majority of the damaged done from her contact with the diary."

Harry blinked. "The majority? It's your creation, why couldn't you remove it all?"

Voldemort frowned. "Despite what occured, it was not created to attach itself to someone's soul and try to suck that person's lifeforce out. As such an action was not intended when I created it, I cannot remove the damaged caused by that action. However, the point is irrelevent: the minute trace of it left is not causing her any ill effects."

"So why is she still unconcious?" Harry prodded.

"There is another spell. Old binding magic, tied into not only her magical core but her soul as well." Voldemort supplied. Harry glared at him and Voldemort sneered "It's LIGHT magic, not dark. This is not something I can cast, nor would I wish to! There are far better things to use than such archaic drivel!"

Harry stopped. 'Light magic? Does that mean...?' He cleared his throat and looked up at Voldemort. "Can you tell how old?"

Voldemort frowned slightly but turned back to Morgan and cast a few more spells over her body. "Three years...give or take a few months."

Harry felt his stomach plummet. "Dumbledore..."

Voldemort narrowed his eyes "You think he did this?" When he nodded, Voldemort turned his full attention back to Harry. "Explain" Voldemort all but demanded.

"At the end of the 2nd year at Hogwarts after I 'killed' your psycho diary and resuced Morgan, she was put in the hospital wing to recover from the ordeal. I went to see her after I had rested and she was acting a bit weird. She told me she felt rather strange and she didn't understand why since Dumbledore had personally tended to her. I noticed that her eyes were duller in color, they used to be brighter green than mine. They've stayed dull too. And also..." Harry trailed off.

"What?" Voldemort prodded impatiently.

"Morgan's always had this sort of birthmark on her wrist. She showed me it when we met; normally she covers it with jewelry though. When I went to see her that day I noticed it was gone...and Morgan herself didn't even remember having had that birthmark in the first place, even though she was the one who had shown it off a year and some months earlier."

"After that incident, she changed. Something that diary did to her might have transfered some of its magic -your magic -to her. She could speak Parseltongue afterwards even thought the diary was destroyed. I'm guessing that Dumbledore thought that some part of the diary -some part of you - was still inside or Morgan and that she was going to slowly change into you..."

Voldemort looked contemplative again "It shouldn't be possible to transfer the ability of Parseltongue through posession of any kind. Perhaps the bindings Dumbledore cast upon her and the damaged from the posession were agrivated by the curses and thus reacted in a less than optimal way, rendering her unconcious. I suspect she will not be able to mantain conciousness without a magical aid unless the binding or the diary damage is fully removed...Since I can't remove the last piece of the diary's magic, I'll have to remove the binding...which requires knowing the exact type of binding magic used..."

Voldemort stopped musing, a annoyed expression upon his face, and turned; headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Harry called after him, his head still spinning from Voldemort's musing.

"Where else: the library!" Voldemort called back as he vanished through the door. Harry insantly thought of Morgan storming off to the library and leaving him in suspense and quickly killed the thought. He was likening his best friend with Voldemort...

The door had vanished behind Voldemort, leaving Harry no choice but to stay in the room with Morgan. He spent a few moments standing over her unconcious body talking to her and telling her things were going to be alright on the off chance she could hear him before returning to the bed. No doubt Voldemort would be a while in the library - now was the perfect time for that nap...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter X**

**The Shattered Case**

When Harry Potter awoke hours later, he groggily rubbed in his eyes to try and rid them of sleep before sitting up. He reached his arms above his head and stretched with a long yawn. He looked around sleepily. It took a few moments before he realized just where he still was as the events of earlier that day (or was it yesterday or the day before - he wasn't sure) replayed themselves in his head. Still groggy, he sat on the edge of the bed for a moment as he tried to wake himself up. Finally, Harry rose and stretched his arms out again. Harry's eyes flickered around the room, nothing had changed. He looked towards the couch and stopped in mid-yawn.

Morgan was gone.

Panic immediately set in. Harry took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, after all Morgan was probably just in the office with Voldemort. The Dark Lord had implied he would return after some research in the library. It was all likely that Morgan had been moved into the office so Voldemort could perform some more diagnostic spells on her. Harry nodded, yes that was what was happening. He believed himself for three seconds.

Harry all but dashed to the door, which had returned sometime during his nap, and wrenched it open, stepping into the office. A quick scan of the room showed Voldemort was once again seated behind the ebony desk; the paperwork had been replaced with several thick spell books. Harry didn't see Morgan though. Once again, Voldemort noticed Harry the second he entered and raised his head slightly.

"Morgan?" Harry asked apprehensively.

Voldemort quirked an eyebrow. "If you're asking if I've found how to remove the binding on her, no, I have not. There are quite a few of those old binding spells, none of them simple, and I am familiar with none of them; they are usless spells all the way. And furthering hampering the situation is the fact that all these books" Voldemort motioned towards the piles on his desk "require translations into English."

"You…didn't take her?" Harry asked, blanching slightly as the nervousness reemerged.

"What do you mean by 'take her'?" Voldemort asked, crimson eyes narrowing.

"She's gone" was all Harry said.

Voldemort rose from his chair, a look of pure annoyance crossing his face. Harry supposed a less reserved man than Voldemort would have cursed vehemently. "It shouldn't be possible for her to leave that room, much less be concious!" He practically snarled.

And then the bone white wand was in his hand from seemingly nowhere and was slashed though the air once. The books all moved aside and a strange object appeared in the center of the desk. It was a long cylindrical tube whose appearance reminded Harry of a crystal ball. Silver serpents held the ends on both the base and the top, green gems sparkling as eyes. Voldemort tapped the top twice with his wand, causing a greenish-gray vapor to float out from the top end. The vapor seemed to almost have a life of its own as it swirled around the tube and Voldemort himself. Harry stood in place, entranced by the strange object.

"Don't just stand there!" Voldemort nearly barked at Harry, causing him to jump "Go and check the adjoining rooms for her!"

Harry gave a quick jerky nod in Voldemort's direction, only just managed from answering 'Yes Sir' before heading back into the bedroom. Harry checked both closets with no luck; the bathroom was also empty as was under the bed. Harry almost dreaded going out onto the balcony. The idea of a hurt and delirious Morgan wandering out and falling over the edge was all he could think of. Harry tried to lean over the balcony so he could see the forests below, but found he couldn't; an invisible barrier prevented him. Harry banged on it a few times with his fists before walking back into the bedroom, confident that Morgan couldn't have fallen over.

Next, Harry headed through the short corridor to the next two rooms. He checked the left room first. Harry looked under the bed, in the closet, and the bathroom, too. He sneezed a few times as he left, having only found and disturbed large reservoirs of dust. Harry then checked the right bedroom. Morgan wasn't in the bathroom, the closet, under the bed, or behind the dresser. Harry sighed in defeat and headed back into the corridor. He has just reached the door leading back into the main bedroom when he stopped in his tracked, turned around, and headed right back the way he came. He returned to the right bedroom and stopped before the desk.

The wand was gone; the glass case shattered.

Harry stared at it for a moment dumbly, flabbergasted at what he saw. Did Morgan do that? It seemed very unlikely that Voldemort would have shattered the glass case to get the wand, after all the man was a skilled wizard and had most likely been the one whom had sealed the wand in the case to begin with. Harry leaned forward to take a closer look at the shards of glass, noticing there was no blood on any of them. A quick look around revealed a book lying out-of-place on the floor nearby. Harry picked it up carefully and noticed that one edge had tiny glass shards embedded into the cover. The book had obviosuly been used to break the glass case; it definatly wasn't Voldemort's doing.

Harry was unsure of how to proceed. He definatly had to tell Voldemort about this; he had no doubt it would be much worse if the man found out on his own later on (and suspected him of it). He also supposed it was unlikely that Voldemort would come running if he called, the Dark Lord would most likely still be brooding over his mysterious object and even if he wasn't he doubted Voldemort would like it, so Harry opted to jog back to the office to retrieve him. When Harry reached the office Voldemort was pacing back and forth in front of his desk, a thoughtful look on his face; the strange object was gone. Once again, he raised his head upon Harry's entry. His red eyes immediately fell upon the book in Harry's hand.

"Recreational reading?" Voldemort snorted.

Harry shook his head no. "A weapon used to shatter a certain glass case." He knew Voldemort would know exactly what case he meant.

And indeed the Dark Lord did. Voldemort's pacing immediately ceased. "The wand?" His red eyes were glued on Harry.

Harry shrugged softly. "Gone."

Voldemort had brushed past Harry and was halfway to the room before Harry even noticed he was gone. Harry dashed after him. The Dark Lord stopped before the desk and stared, much like Harry had earlier. Harry stopped besides him as Voldemort scanned the area with his wand, an unreadable expression upon his face. Harry stared at him as the Dark Lord continued to work, trying to pick out some of the emotions in the other's face.

Fear…hope…uncertainty…disbelief…relief…worry…resentment….and possibly longing. Harry mentally frowned; none of these emotions seemed like the Voldemort he knew, minus the resentment one. And then suddenly, Voldemort stopped. The wand just vanished from Voldemort's hand into thin air as the Dark Lord turned to face Harry. He crouched slightly so he was eye-to-eye with Harry, crimson boring into emerald. His hands gripped Harry's arms just below the shoulder tightly, holding him in place.

"The bracelet" Voldemort began in a serious tone, his eyes locked with Harry's. "The bracelet belongs to her, doesn't it?"

Harry just stood there in silence. Voldemort had never scared him before, not when he was possessing Quirrell or when said man was trying to curse him, not when his diary had projected his younger self who then sent a giant ancient basilisk after him in hopes of killing him, not in the graveyard when he rose from the great cauldron in a new body only to have to duel him while surrounded by Death Eaters, and not in the Ministry office where he had threatened Morgan in order to have Harry talk. But now Harry was truly scared. The look in Voldemort's eyes was almost feral; the crimson orbs seemed to radiate evil and Harry found himself, for the first time, understanding why most wizards were afraid to even utter the dark wizard's name. Voldemort sneered when Harry didn't answer and shook him slightly.

"Is it hers? Yes or no, boy?" Voldemort demanded, his eyes glowing even brighter.

Harry gulped and finally stuttered out "Y-yes…"

Voldemort immediately released Harry and returned to his full height. Harry found he was shaking slightly as he looked up at Voldemort. The dark wizard had a look of pure rage on his face.

"Dumbledore" he hissed venomously and Harry shuddered slightly from the tone alone. Voldemort curled his hands into fists.

Harry just watched in stunned silence as Voldemort paced back and forth slightly again, ranting about Dumbledore under his breath. Harry only caught parts of his hissed sentences. "He must have suspected…the spell must have…with the diary. Can't have know…if he did, she would have been long dead….fortunate."

Then, suddenly, he turned and headed back down the corridor towards the office with a swish of his black robes.

"Come now, boy. Let's find her." Voldemort called back over his shoulder, not bothering to turn around.

Harry quickly followed Voldemort back into the office and watched as he removed Morgan's bracelet from the pedestal and placed it around his own wrist. With his wand on the bracelet, Voldemort muttered a few enchantments under his breath and the bracelet started to glow a dull red. Harry watched curiously, wondering just what Voldemort was doing.

"It's a locating spell" Voldemort supplied. "It used to find the owner of objects; the color changes depending upon how close the person is to the object."

And the Voldemort raised his wand again, this time drawing a looping object in mid-air silently. One end of it suddenly glowed green and attached itself to Morgan's bracelet on Voldemort's wrist. The other end Voldemort led with his wand around Harry's wrist where it formed a loop and then retracted. Harry raised his arm and stared at the thin green line which now connected his wrist to Voldemort's.

"So you don't suddenly decide to 'abandon' your friend and try and flee for your life once we leave this room." Voldemort again supplied with a slight sneer. "Not that you'd get far."

"We?" Harry echoed, slightly confused. Why did Voldemort need him to find Morgan?

"Potter, while the locating charm upon the bracelet with find Morgan" here the Dark Lord seemed to almost laugh or sneer at her name, "easily enough, it is what will happen once she is found that is the more difficult part. She is mostly likely still injured to some degree, probably in pain, and almost most likely somewhat delusional; it tends to happen when you wake up in a strange place after a battle and you can't get out. It obviously goes to say that if I approach her, she would most likely try to attack me and not just come quietly. And, while I am more than capable of subduing her magically, in her current condition with that bind still acting on her it is most likely that any magic performed on her, even something as simple as a Full Body Bind, could potentially have devastating consequences. Your only role is to ensure she comes as calmly as possibly...unless you'd like her in more than one piece." Voldemort drawled, seeming annoyed with having to explain this.

Harry just nodded in understanding and Voldemort raised his wand again, this time causing the door out of the room to appear. Voldemort led the way out into the hallway with Harry following closely behind. He found that his 'leash' to Voldemort allowed him to walk a short distance behind the elder wizard but not that far. Harry let Voldemort lead him through the hallway; he was the one with the charmed bracelet after all and the one who knew the lay of the house.

The hallways were sparsely decorated, only a few paintings of some creature or landscape decorated the gray walls. The carpet underfoot was green. Harry saw no other doors and assumed that they must appear and disappear like the one in Voldemort's office when Voldemort wanted them to. They traveled down a staircase and Harry found himself wondering if there was anyone else in this manor besides Voldemort; he had seen neither hide nor hair of anything else nor any signs of other life. As they rounded a corner, Harry sighed softly; Voldemort gave no indication that he'd heard anything or that he cared.

A part of Harry was itching to ask why Voldemort had to trek through the hallways with a locater charm to find Morgan. Wasn't this Voldemort's home? Shouldn't he be able to find her easier than this? And furthermore, how had Morgan escaped from the room? How had she awoken from the spell Voldemort had placed on her to keep her unconcious and vanished from a room with doors that only Voldemort could summon? And then there was the issue of the wand. How did Morgan take the wand? Surely, she would have burned her hands like Harry had - how could she keep holding on to it? Nothing was making any sense. Harry was snapped out of his revere of thought as Voldemort suddenly stopped before two tall double doors. Harry just caught himself in time; he didn't want to know how grumpy Voldemort would be if he had walked into him. Voldemort motioned towards the doors.

"In here" he supplied; holding up the arm with the bracelet which was now a bright almost neon green.

Harry nodded and Voldemort pushed open the double doors. A few candles lit with a wave of Voldemort's wand and a second extinguished the glow on the bracelet. After his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, Harry could see the room was once a ballroom that had fallen into disrepair. The grand crystal chandeliers were covered in more cobwebs and dust that Harry had ever seen, the tiles below his feet were cracked and covered with dirt, and the drapery that hung around three large windows was tattered and torn to the point where it looked like swiss cheese. Despite its current sorry state, Harry could tell that once it was a splendidly grand sight; Harry almost wished he was there to see it.

Voldemort elbowed him, pointing towards a far corner, barely lit by the candles. Harry had to squint to see but he was able to make up the crouched form of Morgan sitting there in the corner. Harry slowly walked over towards her; Voldemort lagged as far behind Harry as the leash would allow him to. Harry was about five steps from Morgan when her head suddenly snapped upwards and her wide eyes locked on Harry's face; Harry though her eyes looked every bit as terrified as Morgan probably felt.

"Harry…?" Morgan's shaky voice asked tentatively.

"Yeah, it's me Morgan. It's okay; you're alright now. Come on. Come with me; we'll get your injuries treated more." Harry told her calmly, smiling at her, as he extended his non-leashed hand out to her.

Morgan eyed Harry's outstretched hand warily, and then averted her eyes to the dark robed Voldemort. Her eyes stayed glued upon his form.

"Who's he?" She asked softly.

Harry realized Morgan didn't recognize Voldemort when he looked human, she had been unconscious by the time the diary had manifested his teenage illusionary form, and he almost sighed in relief. Harry smiled wider.

"He's a healer, Morgan." Harry told her, elbowing Voldemort when he opened his mouth to speak and ignoring that glare that followed thereafter. "He healed most of the damage on your already and there's only a little bit left to fix now. So, come on, Morgan; let's get you better."

Morgan eyed him for a moment longer and then frowned softly, some of the fear vanishing from her eyes. She nodded once. "Alright…on one condition."

"Yes?" Harry asked, genuinely pleased he'd talked Morgan to come without trouble.

"He carries me." Morgan said, pointing at Voldemort, a smile stretching across her lips.

Harry nearly fainted at that and he was sure he heard Voldemort choke behind him. He looked over at Morgan, eyes slightly wide.

"Morgan…"Harry began.

But Morgan stopped him. "No." Morgan simply said. "If he doesn't carry me I'm not going anywhere."

Harry was about to try and reason with his stubborn friend when Voldemort walked past him and easily picked Morgan up. Morgan eeped in surprise and Voldemort held her in a position that reminded Harry of the 'new bride over the threshold' pose; Harry almost barfed. Voldemort seemed to be 'grinning and bearing' it as Harry put it. Harry followed the Dark Lord in disguise down the hallway, back towards the office. Morgan seemed content on being quiet and Harry decided it best not to bring up the missing wand just yet.

Harry was about to ask her why she had insisted that Voldemort had to carry her when her eyes suddenly moved to stare at Harry as wide as they were before.

"I don't feel good..."Morgan murmured weakly before collapsing backwards into Voldemort's chest, unconcious once more.

Harry panicked: he was sure he jumped. Voldemort, on the other hand, showed no outwards sings of panic, he simple redoubled his pace back to the office. The "leash" practically dragged Harry along and he found himself running to keep up with Voldemort; he hadn't realized just how quick the Dark Lord could be when he wanted to. It seemed to take only a fraction of the time to return to the office.

As soon as they were through the threshold,Voldemort tossed Morgan's body into the room, causing Harry to yelp in shock. But her body hovered in the center of the room, much like it had back in the ministry. A wave of the wand that had reappeared in Voldemort's hand closed and vanished the office door behind Harry, a second removed the leash and allowed Harry to walk up and stand beside Morgan.

Voldemort went straight for the bookcase. He moved a few books on one row aside and then reached inside to pull something. A click later, a hidden shelf emerged from the nearby wall on which dozens of potion vials rested. Voldemort chose one from the back, which was a sickly puke green in color, followed by another from the end of a row, which was storm cloud gray. Voldemort carried both over to Morgan and Harry.

"Sit her up." he told Harry as he uncorked the green potion.

Harry felt it was best to comply and pushed Morgan up into a slight sitting position and held her there. Voldemort tilted her head back with one hand and poured the green potion down her throat with the other.

"A pain suppressant" Voldemort supplied, seeing what was most likely a quizzical look upon Harry's face. 'It should numb most of the pain. Keep her there for a moment more."

Voldemort uncorked the second potion, causing Harry to almost gag at the awful scent. Once again Voldemort tilted her head back with one hand and poured the potion down her throat with the other.

"And that?" Harry asked, gently lowering Morgan back down now that Voldemort was done.

"An investigatory tool." Voldemort supplied with a smile that made Harry slightly nervous as Voldemort vanished the two empty bottles.

Harry blinked, confused as to what Voldemort had meant by that; he hadn't like the look on the other's face at all. Voldemort simply raised his wand level with Morgan.

"Enuviate"

Morgan's eyes snapped open immediately and Harry was horrified to see that they were completely glassy. Voldemort looked pleased.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter X**

**The Dark Lord Voldemort & Harry Potter**

"What is you name?" Voldemort asked her.

"Morgan Oiodre" came Morgan's deadpan answer.

Voldemort frowned slightly at this answer, as if it wasn't was he was expecting to hear. He shook his head once slightly then asked "What is your birth name."

"I do not know."

Voldemort snorted. "Who are your parents?"

"Kathy and Melvin Oiodre."

"Your real parents" Voldemort insisted, his voice taking on a tone of impatience.

"I do not know."

"What do you know of your real parents?"

"Mother is in prison, possibly Azkaban."

"And your father?"

"I do not know."

Harry didn't know what to think. Why was Voldemort so interested in Morgan and her "real" parents? Did that mean Morgan's real parents were Voldemort's servants? Death Eaters? Harry was confused. Morgan was now sitting up by herself, so Harry walked around to stand nearby, watching Voldemort question her. He barely noticed when Voldemort turned to look at him. But the next question snapped Harry out of his daze.

"What do you think of Harry Potter?" Voldemort asked with a sneer.

"Harry Potter is Morgan's only friend. Harry Potter is a kind person and a true friend. Harry Potter does not judge people based upon magical preference or blood but rather on character. Harry Potter treats Morgan like his best friend or a sister. Harry Potter enjoys Morgan's company. Harry Potter secretly hates Dumbledore as much as The Dark Lord probably does. Harry Potter is not to be underestimated..."

Morgan paused and Harry found it hard to contain the tears that had welled up as a result of Morgan's babble. Voldemort seemed disinterested and opened his mouth to ask another question, but Morgan added another statement in first.

"Harry Potter's soul is tainted."

Harry's joyous feeling vanished instantly. He moved closer to Morgan, eyes slightly wide. "What do you mean 'Harry Potter's soul is tainted'?"

"I do not know."

Harry scoffed. "But you said it!"

"I did not say it; I repeated it."

"Who told you that?" Harry demanded.

"The diary."

Harry almost laughed. "Well, that makes sense. All that wretched girly thing did was lie."

Voldemort seethed at the comment.

Harry laughed slightly. "Now you're going to tell me Voldemort and I are going to stop trying to kill each other and be BFFs!"

"The Dark Lord Voldemort will not kill Harry Potter"

Harry blinked, disbelieving, and turned to Voldemort. "Can she lie to us?"

"I cannot lie about a known truth." Morgan answered automatically.

Voldemort nodded in affirmation, then scoffed. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Why wouldn't I want to kill Harry Potter?"

"Harry Potter is capable of speaking Parseltongue, but this ability was not born to him. This ability, as well as the ability to see within The Dark Lord Voldemort's mind at times, is the result of The Dark Lord Voldemort's failed attempt to kill Harry Potter 14 years ago. These abilities are countered with the Dark Lord Voldemort's ability to send images into Harry Potter's mind and his ability to possess Harry Potter despite having a physical body." Morgan supplied.

"And that means?" Harry asked, more confused than anything.

"Harry Potter is The Dark Lord Voldemort's accidental horcrux."

Harry stared at Morgan, totally clueless about what she had just said. What was a horcrux? He turned to face Voldemort only to see that Voldemort had frozen in place. Voldemort's eyes were wider than Harry had even seen them before, the menacing glare/sneer combination was gone, and his wand had been lowered. Voldemort looked completely and utterly stunned - as if someone had just told him he was really a gerbil transfigured into a human or something else completely obsurd. Harry waved his hand around but Voldemort remained frozen. Realizing the Dark Wizard wasn't going to snap out of it anytime soon, Harry turned back to Morgan.

"What's a horcrux?"

"A horcrux is a dark magical object which is used to ensure the immortality of the caster by splitting the caster's soul into fragments." Morgan explained deadpan. "After killing someone, the soul of the killer is naturally split. Given time, the soul will repair itself, however at the time that the soul is initially split, right after a killing, the caster can use a certain dark magic spell to extract a split part of their soul and encase it within a foreign object, being, or person. This then becomes a horcrux. An object will gain magical abilities to protect itself, a being will be influenced or possibly controlled by the fragment's personality; the same can be said for a person. As long as the fragment is in tact, the person whose soul it comes from cannot be truly killed. The body can be destroyed, but the soul will remain on the earthly plain and that person is capable of being resurrected; restored to a human form. The person will not truly die until all of the fragments haver been destroyed."

Harry blinked. "So, Voldemort's resurrection in the graveyard was possible because of the existence of a horcrux?"

"Yes. If there was not at least one horcrux in existance, The Dark Lord Voldemort would have perished upont he day he attacked Harry Potter and would not be capable of being resurrected. "

The color drained from Harry's face. "So, I have a piece of Voldemort's soul...inside of me?"

"Yes, but accidentally. When The Dark Lord Voldemort's Killing Curse backfired, the part of the soul that was split from using it attached itself to the nearest thing, which was Harry Potter. It is because of the existence of this fragment of The Dark Lord Voldemort's soul that Harry Potter can speak Parseltongue and see into The Dark Lord Voldemort's mind at times. This fragment contains magic, so it also has served as a boost for Harry Potter's own magical abilities. It also created a bond between The Dark Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter. As the owner of the soul fragment, The Dark Lord Voldemort gained the ability to send images to Harry Potter and posess him because of that bond."

"And this mean Voldemort won't kill me because..."

"Harry Potter contains a piece of The Dark Lord Voldemort's soul. It is most likely impossible to extract this fragment: normally removing a fragment from an object is near impossible and a living thing is more complex therefore it follows that it should be impossible. If The Dark Lord Voldemort were to attempt to kill Harry Potter, only the fragment would be destroyed: Harry Potter would live. The Dark Lord Voldemort will not destroy a piece of his own soul. Similarly, Harry Potter cannot kill The Dark Lord Voldemort truly until all of The Dark Lord Voldemort's horcruxes have been destroyed, including the one that rests inside Harry Potter. But only The Dark Lord Voldemort can kill just the fragment within Harry Potter; another wizard performing the Killing Curse upon Harry Potter would destroy the fragment but kill Harry Potter as well."

"So basically, I can't kill Voldemort because there's this fragment in me and if I wanted to, I'd have to die for real, so then someone else would need to give the finishing blow? And Voldemort can't kill me because he'd be destroying a piece of himself and that's not what he wants to do?" Harry asked slowly.

"That is correct. In order for Harry Potter to kill The Dark Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter must , if The Dark Lord Voldemort wishes to kill Harry Potter he must sacrifice one of his own soul fragments first and then kill Harry Potter for a second time. At the present time given the attitudes, personalities, and priorities of both Harry Potter and The Dark Lord Voldemort, neither of these possibilities will happen." Morgan drawled.

"Wonderful!" Harry snorted. "Stuck with Voldemort forever!"

"My sentiments exactly." Voldemort added, sounding disgusted


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter X**

**The Answers Only Raise More Questions**

Voldemort, despite how disgusted he sounded, seemingly shrugged the feeling off in order to grill Morgan on her injuries; what hurt, how much pain, what type of pain, what spells she remembered being cast on her, and so on. Harry supposed the potion must have a time limit of how long it was effetive before the effects wore off and Voldemort wasn't going to waste a second potion. Harry barely listened as Voldemort asked her question after question. He was still quite numb with the shock of it all and thought it would be best to sit down.

Harry didn't want to sit right behind Voldemort or across from where he was still interrogating Morgan. He figured Voldemort wouldn't mind if he used HIS chair, and if he did, well too bad! Harry walked over and sat down on the large chair anxiously; he half expected it to curse him like the wand case had, but it didn't and Harry leaned back to relax. His eyes wandered over the parchment on the desk - Voldemort's handwriting was slanted and quite tiny. Even with his glasses, Harry had to stain his eyes to try and distinguish the letters. Despite the small size, the handwriting was perfect - as if each letter had taken minutes to make not seconds, just as it had appeared in the diary. He read the first sentence of one document and understood just three words - Harry quickly put it back down. He had forgotten that back in his school days, Voldemort had been the top of his class. Not only was Voldemort powerful and exceptionally skilled in the dark arts, he was also extremely intellegent. And obviously Voldemmort hadn't just given up on studying magic after his school years: the dark wizard had obviously devoted plenty of time to learning more and becomming even more brilliant. It was one heck of a task to try and take him down, more so than Harry had ever realized before. Somehow Dumbledore had never insitlled that truth in him.

Next Harry examined the drawers. Most were locked, but one surprisingly opened when Harry pulled on it. There was a small black box and a larger green box within the drawer. Feeling his curiosity get the best of him, and noticing that Voldemort was still busy with Morgan, Harry withdrew the larger box and opened it. Inside was a pendant and earrings set. They were emeralds (the pendant one was huge) surrounded in delicate silver work. Harry admired it for a few moments before closing the box and returning it to the drawer. Harry picked up the smaller box, opened it up, and got the surprise of his life.

It was a ring - a diamond ring set in platinum. There were little tiny rubies on one side and, looking closely, Harry could see there were eyes, eyes of a snake curled around the band. It certainly looked like something a Slytherin would give his future wife. Wait, future wife? Harry stared dumbstruck at the ring for several more moments. No, it had to be something that Voldemort had taken from a death eater. It certainly couldn't be something he had bought himself, could it? He wasn't supposed to understand what love was...so how could he? Harry closed the box and put it back in the drawer, shutting it closed. It was best not to even try and conjecture the reason why it was there.

Harry turned his attention to the shelf that had popped out of the wall earlier. There were tons of potion vials on it - each corked but not labeled. Harry supposed Voldemort knew what they were without labels - he was an excedingly intellegent Dark Lord after all. Harry couldn't recognize any of the potions he saw for sure. He though a greenish one second from the left MIGHT be Polyjuice Potion, but he wasn't about to bet anything on that. He was sure that Morgan probably could have identified a few, if not most of them; she was better in potions and did a lot of recreational reading on the subject among others.

Something shone slightly in the light and Harry stood, curious enough to walk over to the shelf and see. In the midst of the hundred or so vials of potion was a silver picture frame. Harry gingerly picked it up. It was a wizard picture of a woman from waist up. She had pale skin and long yellow hair that fell past her waist in a slight wave. It was extremely shiny and full looking. She had on a strapless dress, dark green in color. Her lips were in a slight smile as she waved softly from the photograph. She was rather pretty, Harry thought. But of all the things to look at in the picture, the woman's eyes were what caught Harry attention.

They were a bright green.

Harry moved the picture closer to his face, trying to see the woman more clearly. She was wearing a pendant; an emerald surrounded by silver work. The earrings were similar. Harry continued onward, glancing at her hands. On her right ring finger there was a ring - a diamond set in platinum with two small rubies. Harry put the picture down - he had just seen the jewelry that this woman was wearing in Voldemort's drawer. Harry blinked then looked from the picture in his hand to Morgan, who was still answering Voldemort's 200 questions, to Voldemort himself, and then back to the portrait. Harry shook his head - no, what he was thinking of was impossible, right? The first part of the equation in his head was making sense...the second part was what he wasn't sure about. It couldn't be...could it?

Harry closed his eyes and thought back on the day's events. First Voldemort was interested in that bracelet, interested enough to capture himself and Morgan rather than execute him. Then questions about it made Voldemort heal Morgan partially. Then there was the reaction Voldemort had to the wand being missing and the revelation that the bracelet belonged to Morgan. And the further questions on the bracelet plus the fact that Morgan had somehow vanished in Voldemort's own "home". Then there were the rooms: one closet filled with women's clothing next to Voldemort's own and two bedrooms down a corrudor, filled with belongings, yet all covered in a layer of dust. Even the questions Voldemort had started Morgan's interrogation were strange

_"What is your birth name? Who are your parents? Your real parents!"_

Harry numbly returned the portrait to the shelf just as Voldemort finished his round of questioning. Voldemort waved his wand and Morgan drifted off to sleep; Voldemort left her floating in mid air as he walked back to the desk.

"She's yours, isn't she?" Harry could help but ask; there was a sense of something like dread building inside of him.

Voldemort narrowed his eyes at Harry and Harry knew that somehow Voldemort knew everything he'd been doing during the past few minutes, even though his back had been turned for the entire time.

"Nosy, aren't you?" was all Voldemort said.

"That's not an answer"

Voldemort scoffed. "Do you think I'd be doing all of this if she wasn't, boy?"

Harry found himself snorting slightly. "It makes sense now...why you care."

"It doesn't make sense why you're still so calm about it." Voldemort retorted, opening one of the books on his desk.

"I just found out I've got a piece of your soul in me and that in order for you to die, I'm going to have to die too. And if I don't, I'm going to be stuck with you stalking me for the rest of my life and running away from your goons. Compared to that, this seems normal. Besides" Harry smiled "She's my friend"

Voldemort snorted. "Friends are worthless!"

"If I wasn't her friend, your psycho diary would have killed her three years ago." Harry pointed out.

"It shouldn't have" Voldemort mused aloud, not meeting Harry's eyes.

"Well it **did**." Harry stated firmly, earning a glare from Voldemort. "So, what happens now? I mean after she's better Dumbledore will know that the bind on her is gone if she goes back...plus there's our disappearance and then a supposedly miraculous escape? If she doesn't go back, she won't graduate..."

"She'll go back, not that she needs to. I am more than capable of fooling that old coot as you should know. You, on the other hand, will need Occulemy lessons to guard your mind as she is able to."

"Me?" Harry asked looking at Voldemort as if the man had two heads; weren't they enemies?

"You heard her very well. Neither of us has anything to gain from continuing to try and kill each other; you would have to die and I would have to kill part of my soul. We're stuck with each other. But you must hate Dumbledore too now. He place a binding which hurt your friend, causing her all this agony, and no doubt he knew all along you were a horcrux. He never taught you any offensive or defensive magic, correct? He has intended you to die all along for his cause - I doubt you're okay with that. You're on my side, now." Voldemort explained tiredly as if it were obvious.

Harry blanched slightly. He didn't want to die and if what Voldemort said was true, then Dumbledore had known all along. Harry thought back on Dumbledore's strange behavior over the past year and it all suddenly started to make sense. He had known. 'And he was ready to sacrifice me to destroy Voldemort.' Harry thought bitterly. 'All the attention, all the help and guidance he gave me were just so I would trust him more, so that when the time came, I would go willingly. He used me...and he used Morgan too... to try and get to me.'

But could he really side with Voldemort, who had killed his parents? Harry didn't much like that idea either.

Voldemort noticed the thinking look and interjected. "Think on it, Harry. You wouldn't be a Death Eater, rather something new. I suppose you could guard her, if you were good enough." Here he gestured towards Morgan's form. "Well, enough of this. With the information from her and the book I should be able to remove the binding from her completely."

Harry nodded and smiled slighlty. "Great." He paused for a moment and then asked "The wand... the wand was her's originally, wasn't it? It called to her. That's why the spell on it didn't burn her."

Voldemort nodded briefly. "And why she was able to escape from the room and then hide within the house; the magic in this place is designed to protect kin. She wanted a way out, so the house gave her a door." Voldemort paused briefly. "It always liked women more then men...and it has never been particularly fond of me..."

"I suppose Morgan isn't her real name, is it?" Harry asked.

Voldemort turned back to the desk, rapidly searching through one of the books. At first Harry assumed Voldemort was going to ignore his question entirely. Silence lasped inbetween them.

"No, it is not. I would never chose something so simplistic for someone so precious." Voldemort finally replied softly. "But this is not the matter at hand." The tone in Voldemort's voice told Harry quite clearly that the issue was closed.

Voldemort stopped flipping on a page. He glanced it over, running a finger over a portion murming to himself, then marched back over to Morgan's still-floating body. The wand was pointed at her chest an an incantation muttered, which caused a soft almost vapor-esque mass to appear from her chest. It was white and semi-transparent. Voldemort jabbed his wand in mid air and a small ring of black and red stripes formed. Voldemort touched his wand to the vapor's end and pulled it to wrap around the ring several times; the ring then shrank to hold the vapor in place. Harry watched in awe as the vapor semmed to almost be alive and struggle to free itself from the ring but could not. Voldemort swished his wand across and the ring rose upand to the left, pulling the struggling vapor that was still attached to Morgan with it.

Another vapor wisp emerged from Morgan's chest and once again Voldemort repreated the process: conjuring a red and black ring, attching the vapor to the ring, waiting for the ring to tighten, and then pulling the ring up and away from Morgan. Every time another vapor appeared, Voldemort did the same process. With each new wisp, the vapor semmed to struggle more and more against the rings. When there were five rings hovering in the air, Voldemort had to pause his process to add two more rings to each of the already bound wisps to keep them from freeing themselves. The sixth wisp was also bound with three rings before it joined the others in the air.

The seventh wisp emerged and, unlike the previous six, this wisp was a dark brown and almost completely opaque. Keeping the other vapors in mid-air with his wand, Voldemort grabbed the seventh wisp with his free hand and pulled hard. Morgan murmered in her sleep as if she could feel Voldemort pulling this one, but thankfully she didn't appear to be in any pain. Voldemort growled and pulled harder, using his wand to pull the others back as well. The vapors quivered and a massive blob slowly rose out of Morgan's chest reveling that all seven wisps were attached to one central 'body'. The mass slowly rose as Voldemort pulled until all the was connecting the vapor blob to Morgan was a thin pure white wisp that almost seemed to glow.

"Grab it and pull!" Voldemort barked at Harry, his attention on the struggling vapors aroung him. "Hurry!"

Harry blinked and stepped closer to Morgan. He wasn't sure at first bu he doubted that Voldemort would tell him to do anything that would hurt Morgan, given who she was. Trembling slighty, Harry grabbed the bright wisp and tugged on it. It was warm in his hands, but not so hot that it burned. More confident, Harry tighted his grip and pulled hard in the direction Voldemort was pulling the other wisps. Morgan muttered again in her sleep as he pulled harder still; the wisp did not want to let go of Morgan. Harry gritted his teeth and pulled harder still.

"LET. GO. OF. HER!" Harry grunted as he pulled as hard as he possibly could on the wisp.

The wisp let go all of a sudden with no warning. Harry tumbled backwards, losing his grip on the wisp end, as he tumbled backwards and landed against Voldemort with an "oof", knocking them both to the ground. Voldemort shoved Harry off him to the side almost immediatly. Voldemort raised his gaze up and Harry followed his example. The six normal wisps were still be held in mid air far away from Morgan; the two free wisps were struggling as they tried to stretch to reach Morgan's body but couldn't. The whole thing looked disgusting and Harry wondered how anyone could cast such vile magic on a child. Voldemort wasted no time in conjuring two more sets of four rings (one set black and green striped, the other totally black) which automattically floated up to bind the last two wisp ends.

Voldemort sighed in relief. "Finally."

"That's it? The binding spell?" Harry looked at it in open disgust. "How horrid..."

Voldemort gave a cocky smile. "It's Dumbledore's foul magic...out at last!" He rose to his feet gracefully and walked over to Morgan. Voldemort raised his wand level with Morgan.

"Enuviate"

Harry rose and hurried over to her side as well. Morgan's eyes blinked and then opened; Harry saw immediatly that they were no longer dull but back to the bright green they had been before the chamber incident. Slowly, she sat up and the first thing she saw was the horrid vapor mass floating in front of her. Morgan gasped.

"What the crud is THAT?" Morgan demanded, looking disturbed and disquested and trying to shimmy away from it.

"Binding magic that was placed on you by Dumbledore." Voldemort supplied softly, gently releasing the levitation spell so that Morgan could stand on her own. "We removed it from you."

"Yuck." Morgan muttered softly. "How disgusting and rude! Get rid of it!"

Voldemort smiled. "Only you can do that."

"Who are you?" Morgan asked, suddenly suspicious as her green eyes went to Voldemort; she took a step back. "You're not a healer!"

Harry mentally cursed; this was not the time to start explaining to her that she wasn't really 'Morgan Oiodre' but someone else entirely and that she was related to Voldemort.

"He's your father." Harry told Morgan simply ignoring the look Voldemort shot him behind Morgan's back.

Morgan's eyes widened drastically. "Are...are you really?" she asked, her voice soft and hopeful.

Voldemort gave a curt nod.

Morgan took two steps foward so she was standing right next to Voldemort and inhaled deeply. Her eyes fluttered shut and she sighed. "I remember this smell...and your aura feels...familiar to me..."

Morgan's suspicion vanished after this and she smiled brightly. Harry watched as Morgan withdrew the missing wand from her pocket and pointed it at the vapor, a determined look in her eyes.

"Tell me what spell to use." Morgan's voice was all buisness.

Voldemort also turned his attention to the vapor. "Two words" was all he said.

Harry blinked confused, wondering just what spell Voldemort was making a refrence to. Morgan seemed to understand immediatly what he meant however and took in a deep breath before focusing her gaze on the vapor. Her hand, Harry noticed, was shaking slightly. Voldemort noticed too and raise his own hand up to hold Morgan's steady. Morgan cracked a small smile at this.

"Avada Kedavra." Morgan's voice whispered softly.

A shot of bright green magic traveled from her wand to strike the vapor blob in the cetner. The vapor blob shreaked loudly and then shriveled into nothingness and vanished with a poof of smoke. Morgan lowered her wand; her hand was still trembling within Voldemort's own.

"Wonderful." Voldemort whispered softly, pulling Morgan into a half embrace and pressing a soft kiss to her temple.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter X**

**All Hallow's Eve**

Harry's mind reeled. He wasn't sure what he found more shocking: Morgan, the friend he'd had for the past five years, performing the Killing Curse so easily it was almost like second nature or Voldemort, the feared Dark Lord, actually showing the emotion of love which he wasn't supposed to know anything about. Harry supposed that Morgan being able to use that curse so easily might be heredity or something she picked up when Voldemort's diary has possessed her; Voldemort sure used it easily enough.

On the other hand, perhaps Voldemort showing love wasn't such a strange thing afterall. Harry only ever saw Voldemort when they battled; his impression of Voldemort had come straight from Dumbledore. But if Voldemort really was the heartless man Dmbledore had made him out to be, why had Voldemort gotten married? He supposed Voldemort could have forced the woman into it, but given the fact that her jewelry and clothes were still present didn't that mean that Voldemort still loved her? Why would he keep the jewelry and clothing otherwise? Plus there were tons of clothing and the jewelry was obviously expensive. Why would he buy expensive things for someone whom he cared nothing for? And Voldemort certainly cared for Morgan, whatever her real name was. He had been elated in his own way to discover she was alive and he had certainly shown just moments ago that he truly cared for her as well. And he himself had told Harry that she was "someone so precious". No doubt he was proud of her; she had just pulled off a sucessful Killing Curse on her first try.

Morgan seemed a bit unsteady on her feet, perhaps from the large use of magic, so Voldemort led her to the chair behind the desk and sat her down. He shot Harry a look that clearly said 'watch her and don't let her wander off' before vanishing down the corridor without another word. Morgan watched him go and the moment he was out of sight, she began to look at everything on the desk and open the books up. Harry sighed and walked over: typical Morgan. She almost died yet again and less than two minutes after being "saved" she was back to digging through anything and everything she could. Some things never changed.

Morgan flipped through the open books on the desk. When she realized none were in english, she tossed them to the side and started on the drawers. Morgan tried the drawers, much like Harry had earlier. When the top drawer didn't open, she frowned, then pulled out her wand and muttered something. Harry was about to tell her it was best not to do that, feels the blisters pulse on his hand still, when the drawer suddenly clicked open. Morgan opened it fully immediatly. Inside were mostly quills and blank parchment, but underneath it all Harry spotted something silver and reached over to pull it out. Morgan grabbed it from his hand before Harry even got a good look at it and, grumbling, he walked to stand behind Morgan to see.

It was another wizard photograph. Voldemort was clearly present in center of the picture looking exactly the same as he currently did. Besides him, the woman from the picture Harry had noticed earlier stood, smiling softly. She was wearing the same jewelry and the same pretty green dress. There was no tense atmosphere between Voldemort and the woman, in fact it clearly showed that the two were in love. Morgan looked at her and the tears welled up in the corners of here eyes.

"Mum..." she mumbled softly.

Morgan's finger stoked her hair in the photograph and then her finger moved downward, only to immedialty fly off of the photo and cover her mouth as she stifled a sob. Harry blinked confused and looked back at the picture. He immedialty understood, for sitting upon the lap of the picture Voldemort was a small child with dark hair, bright green eyes, and a green bracelet around her wrist. The baby moved slightly in the photo, looking up at Voldemort and grabbing at his robes. One hand was held tightly in Voldemort's own and whenever the little baby looked up, he would smile - really smile. Morgan just stared at the photo, trying to hold back her tears, and Harry realized that this was probably the first picture Morgan had ever seen of her real family, probably the first time she had EVER seen her family. He remembered the choked up feeling he had gotten when Hagrid had given him the photo album filled with pictures of his parents and himself as a child (and how jealous Morgan had been), so he could understand how Morgan must be feeling. She hadn't been able to see them in the mirror as he had seen his family, even though it was her greatest desire, and since then he knew she'd been longing to. Harry placed and hand on her shoulder and Morgan looked up at him and then smiled. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Morgan put the picture away and shut the drawer, wiping her eyes off on her sleeve.

"So, where are we?" Morgan asked, and then her voice became more urgent as if she just remebered what had happened back at the Ministry. "What happened? I think I rememeber You-Know-Who finding us, but nothing more. How did we escape?"

"We didn't escape. We got captured." Harry told her, trying to keep her calm.

Which didn't work at all. Morgan stood up and withdrew the missing wand. "Well, why are still here?Why aren't we escaping? I mean this is You-Know-Who's hideout, right? We should get away before he comes!" Morgan grabbed the quil from the desk and some paper and Harry knew she was about to launch into an "attack-plan planning session".

Harry sighed; this was going to be difficult. "No, Morgan, no. We're not going to be hurt here."

Morgan seemed stunned by this "Harry, did you hit your head? You-Know-Who's trying to kill you-"

"No, he's not trying to kill me anymore." Harry interupted. "Put that away, take a seat, and let me explain everything."

Morgan looked unsure, but did as Harry asked anyway, sitting back down on the chair and returning the wand to her pocket; she pushed the quill aside. Harry grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it over then sat across from Morgan and started to explain. He started back at the Minsitry when he had been caught and how he'd reached Morgan. He explained the encounter in the office and what happened when he woke up. He told Morgan everything that had happened since the arrived at the manor: the exploration, the discovery, the chase, the recovery, the intrrogation, and the binding spell revelation. He left out the part about her realtionship with Voldemort and that it was Voldemort whom has just left moments ago. By the time Harry finished, Morgan was in tears again and she flung her arms around him to hold him close.

"Oh Harry..." was all Morgan could choke out.

"It's no so bad" Harry told her, trying to calm her. "At least there'll be no one trying to kill me anymore."

Morgan sat up and dried her eyes off. "Dumbledore might, if he finds out you don't want to kill You-Know-Who anymore."

"I didn't think about that..." Harry muttered.

Just what was he going to do about Dumbledore. No doubt, he was still expected to try and kill Voldemort; he was sure Dumbledore wouldn't just say 'Ok, no problem' if he told him he didn't want to anymore.

"You could pretend!" Morgan shouted suddenly and Harry looked up at her. "You could pretend to still want to kill You-Know-Who, but secretly be spying on him for You-Know-Who: Dumbledore would never suspect you of it! ThenYou-Know-Who can kill Dumbledore and you'd be safe!"

Harry nodded. "I think Voldemort's thinking the same thing; he said he'd have to teach me Occulemy."

Morgan smiled. "With that Dumbledore woudln't be able to read your mind and see that you're really working for You-Know-Who!"

"Or learn that you're really his daughter." He added, and immedialty regretted it.

Morgan's face blanched drastically. Her green eyes moved towards the door where he had vanished not too long ago. "So he was..." Morgan's voice trailed off.

Harry nodded, mentally berating himself for letting her know in this was. It wasn't his best moment.

"So, I really can speak Parseltongue? It's not just a mistake from the diary?" Morgan asked, her voice anxious.

Harry nodded. "Yes..." He wasn't sure what Morgan was getting at.

"I'm realted to Slytherin! I'm a snake-speaker!" Morgan stood up and started to jump about. "Holy crap, I'm probably loaded! I can afford nice new clothes and books!"

Harry gaped at her...typical Morgan!

"I'm not a reject!" Morgan stopped bouncing. "And that means my name isn't Morgan!...And I'm a Princess!"

"A princess?" Harry asked, staring at her.

"What else do you call the Dark Lord's daughter but a Princess!" Morgan explained. She put her nose up in the air and used a haughtly voice. "Bow to me, lowly commoner! I am the Dark Princess!" She told Harry, trying hard to keep her face straight.

"Of course, my Princess" Harry told her and bowed.

This proved to be too much for either of them and both Morgan and Harry started laughing hysterically. They laughed and laughed and laughed until Harry was holding his sides in mild pain and Morgan was red in the face.

"You never fail to make me laugh." Harry told her smiling and Morgan grinned back. "I'm glad you're back."

"You think he'd let me get a snake?"

"Voldemort?" Harry asked. "Yeah, definatly. He's got a giant one!"

"I remeber you telling me that! I want one too! And I wanna see his! Is it here?"

"Probably could buy one in Knockturn Alley. When we go shopping for school supplies in the summer, we could make a side trip." Harry told her. "If we're allowed that is; I really don't see Voldemort letting us go shopping alone or him tagging along - he kinda sticks out."

Morgan looked upset for a moment, then brightened. "Well, we'll just have to 'get lost' then!"

Harry stared at her, the started laughting again. "What's so funny!" Morgan demanded.

"I was just thinking of what would be funnier: the look on Voldemort's face when the Death Eater who will be watching us comes back to him and tells him he 'lost' his precious daughter OR Voldemort trying to displine you when we get back afterwards and you start explaining it was all your idea."

Morgan considered it for a moment, then joined in the laughter. "Both would be hillarious! But I can top that!"

Morgan grabbed Harry's hand and pulled. "Come with me! I found something so funny earlier! Knowing that he won't kill us for this, I feel safe showing you!"

Harry allowed Morgan to bring him back into the bedroom where he'd awoken and into the non-dusty closet filled with Voldemort's robes. Morgan instructed him to sit on a small trunk, which Harry pulled over, and then vanished into the clothing rows. Harry heard some shufffling behind the rows.

"Presenting!" Morgan began in a loud annoucner-esque voice "The great, the mighty, the powerful Lord Voldemort!"

And Morgan jumped out from behind the rack...wearing a too-big bubblegum pink robe.

Harry blinked and started at the robe, noticing it was a man's robe...and then imagined Voldemort wearing it...and prompty lauchned into hysterics. Morgan started making 'tough man' poses, which only made her look even sillier in the bright pink robe. Harry laughed so hard that his eyes welled up with tears and he fell backwards off of the trunk and landed on the floor with a thud, too busy laughing to even care if it hurt. After everything that had happened, it felt good just to laugh with Morgan again. Harry stuggled to open his eyes through tears and came face to toe with a pair of black boots. Harry looked up and immediatly stopped laughing: Voldemort didn't look too happy. Morgan still had the robe on, but had stopped her poses.

"Pink?" Morgan asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is this the latest color in Dark Lord trends or is there someone else you'd like to tell us?" Harry snorted; Morgan sounded like a mother questioning her child about his/her sexual orientation. It almost prompted him to launch into hysterics again.

There was a slightly twitch of Voldemort's lips as if he **almost smiled**, but it was gone in a flash leaving Harry to wonder if he'd just imagined it. Voldemort sighed under his breath and shook his head slightly. Without a word, he stepped over Harry, who quickly got up and straightened his glasses, and walked over to Morgan. The wand swished through the air once and the pink robe was back on the rack. He took Morgan's hand in his and then pulled slightly, indicating her to follow him. Voldemort exited the closet with Morgan following close behind. Harry scampered after them. Harry momentarily wondered where they were going but when Voldemort headed down the corrdior instead of back into the office, Harry knew.

Voldemort led Morgan into the right room, which had been cleaned and now looked like it was brand new. Morgan's eyes widened drastically as she looked around in awe. She looked at Voldemort and then pointed towards the room and then back at herself, silently asking 'Is this mine?'. When Voldemort nodded, she smiled brightly and took some tentative steps into the room, examining everything. Harry knew what Morgan was feeling; he had personally seen her room in the house where she had lived and it was tiny. Besides being tiny, it was also barren; almost all of Morgan's posessions had been hand-me-downs or junk. To go from nothing to an extravagent room like this must be beyone words.

Morgan had stopped before the vanity and was now closly examining something. It appeared to have some writing since Morgan was mouthing something.

"Va...la...?" Morgan sounded out, straining to read some faded writing, and fumbling a bit over the pronunciation.

"Vala, pronounced 'VAH-lah' which is derived from the dark elven name of 'Valara', which means princess." Voldemort supplied automatically. He paused and then added "Your mother suggested it along with a few others and I chose this one."

Harry saw her eyes widen at this and she turned to face Voldemort. "My real name?" she asked and once more Voldemort nodded.

"Vala...well, it sure beats Morgan." She commented, smiling."But I suppose I can only really use it here, at least until the summer. I can't go back to school and say my name is Vala without alerting Dumbledore that something's up, can I?"

"You will have to remain Morgan while in school...and when out in public until you graduate." Voldemort told her. "Or until Dumbledore is killed." He added with a malicious smirk.

Vala shrugged. "I've waited for this long; another year or so won't be so bad."

A mischevious smirk crossed her face and then suddenly Vala ran over towards Harry and Voldemort. She jumped and threw her arms around Voldemort, surronding him in a huge hug. Voldemort stagged back a few steps and seemed taken aback by the gesture; it took him a few moments before he put his arms around Vala and returned the gesture. Harry watched in silence and awe. Voldemort looked like he'd never been hugged before but Harry guessed it was more like fourteen or so years since he'd last been hugged.

Harry couldn't see Voldemort being a 'touchy, feely' person much less a 'normal' person, but he supposed that it was mostly because he only saw Voldemort on the battlefield. Seeing that Voldemort had taken the time to personally clean Vala's room himself (Harry was sure that Voldemort had at least a few house elves who could have done it) made him sure that there was a side of Voldemort he had never seen before, a side that probably only a few people had even seen.

When Vala finally relinquished her hold on Voldemort, Harry could see that her eyes were practically sparkling and that she was probably on cloud 9. Voldemort, finally able to breathe normally again, took the moment to remove Vala's bracelet, fom where it still resided on his own wrist, and return it to Vala's. Harry saw that her birthmark had reappeared as well. Vala smiled even wider and hugged Voldemort again. From where he was standing, Harry thought that it looked like being hugged two times in a row was too much for Voldemort to handle; the Dark Lord pulled himself free from Vala's grip the second the thought ocurred to Harry. Vala's smile wavered, but Voldemort smiled back and gently ruffled her hair, causing the smile to return. Then Voldemort turned and left the room without another sound; Vala watched until he vanished from sight.

"He really does care..." Vala mused, her voice dreamy.

"He can't show it that well yet, though." Harry responded. "Thirteen years as a ghost...if that didn't kill it, it must have burried it down way deep."

"He'll get used to it - I'm gonna hug him twice a day from now on!" Vala told Harry, stifiling a yawn.

Harry noticed. "You should get some rest; you've been unconcious, but that doesn't give your body any rest. You do need to sleep."

Vala smiled. "Yeah, I guess so. I guess I'll go to bed...but I need a shower first. There's no way I'm going to bed in these torn clothes...or covered in dirt and blood."

"Well, there's probably new clothes for you here seeing as the closet's stuffed full of em." Harry mentioned, poiting at the closet.

Vala walked past him and opened the door, only to be floored at the sheer volume of clothing. She practically shreeked in joy. Harry watched as she spent a few minutes looking at all of them before locating the nightclothes and choosing a green one made of silk with silver lace. Harry guessed, seeing as the clothes were Morgan's size, that Voldemort had also done something to them when he was fixing the room. Vala tossed the nightgown on the bed, then went back into the closet. A quick search of it proved not to have whatever Vala was looking for and she walked past Harry to try the dresser. Vala began pulling random drawers until she finally opened a drawer with undergarments; Harry averted his eyes (he was sure Voldemrt would love to hear his reason behind watching Vala pick out underwear).He heard something else join the nightgown on the bed before Vala shut the drawer. Vala picked up the items from the bed and headed into the attached bathroom.

"I'll be out in a bit" she told Harry before closing and locking the door behind her.

Harry was unsure of what to do. He wasn't tired enough to sleep, he had had a nap earlier, and he didn't want to go wandering around again. He settled for waiting for Vala to be done, in the meantime he randomly chose a book from the bookcase and sat himself down on the corner of Vala's bed. As he sat, he heard Vala turn on the shower in the bathroom. To Harry's suprise, the silver covered book he'd chosen turned out to be a photo album filled with wizard photos. The first page held a large picture of an incredibly adorbale sleeping baby Vala, who moved slightly as she slept. Harry had to resist the strong urge to go 'awww'. He flipped the page.

The entire album contained pictures of young Vala; most contained other people as well, but all the photos featured Vala. Harry ntoiced that Voldemort was almost always present in the photos with Vala, standing nearby or holding the baby Vala in his arms. Vala seemed to prefer his arms over her mother's, who was left standing besides the pair, looking happy nonetheless. There was only a year's worth of photos of Vala and Voldemort, well almost a year's worth. Harry noticed as he flipped on that Voldemort was suprisingly absent from Vala's first birthday. This Harry found curious enough to remove the photo from the album to see the date written on the back. What in the world was so important that Voldemort had missing his obviously beloved daughter's first birthday? Harry glanced at the cursvie writing on the back, which was definatly not Voldemort's, and choked.

October 31st - All Hallow's Eve. The day that he and Voldemort became bound together for all of eternity was also Vala's birthday. Harry gulped; he had no doubt that Voldemort would tell Vala when her real birthday was and want to celebrate it on that day (when they could), but Harry wasn't sure he could be happy and celebrate with Vala knowing it was the same day his parents had died. Thinking of them brought Harry's mind back to the matter at hand: just what would they say to him, knowing he had all but joined Voldemort?

He imagined that his father would be furious...and that his mother would be slightly dissapointed, but understand. He imagined that neither of them would want him to die as Dumbledore intended him to do and that both of them would be proud of him for being his own man, making his own decisions.

Harry flipped through the remaining pages. The photos of Vala and her mother continued for another year before suddenly stopping just after Vala's 2nd birthday. Harry assumed this was when Vala's mother had been either captured or killed. Although he was curious, it wasn't something he was going to bring up around Voldemort. He had no doubt that Vala would ask herself and he knew that Voldemort would answer her truthfully without any sort of torture whatsoever; which wouldn't be the case for himself.


End file.
